The Truth About Spider
by PPM
Summary: Before meeting X and company, Spider had his own agenda and his own secrets. [SPOILER ALERT!]


Author's Notes: This fanfic contains HUGE MAJOR SPOILERS for Mega Man X: Command Mission. If you haven't beaten it yet, don't go snooping through. Trust me on this. However, if you have beaten it or just plain don't care, by all means, go for it. Be warned that this is simply my interpretation of the whole ordeal. Feel free to disagree. In fact, I encourage it. And don't ask for any more, because this is a long-decided one-shot.

---

The purple-haired Reploid was on the hunt once again. He'd received word that a member of the Rebellion Army, somebody called Dr. Psyche, was in Giga City. On his oddly-shaped head was a 300,000 zenny bounty, which had immediately attracted the attention of the bounty hunter. He had tracked Dr. Psyche to -- where else? -- a laboratory in the high-class area of Giga City where, it was told, studies on an experimental Force Metal known as the Chameleon Ability were being conducted. Psyche was wanted for grand larceny, so it seemed logical that the hunter would find the doctor there.

Running along the rafters among the ceiling of the lab, he soon came across the circular glowing head he recognised from the wanted posters to belong to Dr. Psyche. The doctor held a small hexagonal piece of metal -- refined Force Metal -- that the hunter presumed to be the targeted Chameleon Ability.

The doctor laughed goofily. "At last! The Chameleon Ability is mine!"

_"Well, that removes my doubt,"_ the bounty hunter thought. He raised his hand and lined it up with the doctor's arm, then sent a signal to the launcher attached to his wrist. As soon as the impulse reached his weapon, a small rectangle rocketed out, faster than the eye could see. It embedded itself in Dr. Psyche's arm, deep into the circuitry, and caused him to scream.

After the doctor had stopped screaming, the bounty hunter shouted from the rafters, "Put that down!" He jumped down and, while falling, adjusted himself to his standard position. He cocked his black, wide-brimmed hat over his green eyes and pulled a jack of diamonds from his card launcher. He landed perfectly and continued his declaration. "Creeps like you have no business touching it!"

Dr. Psyche gasped. "Spider! So you've finally found me. But you're too late! I've already taken the Chameleon Ability for myself!"

"I don't want that. I want you, Psyche! You have a bounty that'll keep me living the good life for a long time!"

"You'll have to kill me first!"

Spider raised both arms and sent messages to both weapons at once -- one on each wrist. Two cards, each the ace of spades, flew at Psyche and, before he could react, sliced through his arms at the shoulder joint and cut them cleanly off. They fell to the ground, along with the Chameleon Ability Force Metal he had been clutching.

The bounty hunter smirked at the armless doctor. "Will that do?"

Dr. Psyche looked around nervously, then threw his head back and started laughing. "You may think you've stopped me, but this is just the beginning! Glory to the Rebellion!" The crystal that made up the top half of his head started glowing brightly and, when the light was too great to look at and Spider had to turn away, Psyche and his arms were gone, but the Force Metal was still there.

"The Chameleon Ability, eh?" Spider asked to nobody in particular as he knelt to pick up the Force Metal Psyche had left behind. "This could be useful. A shape-changing bounty hunter..."

He pressed a small button on his red necktie-like structure and teleported from the lab in a lavender blast of light.

««§»»

While sitting in the room in Central Tower that he had been given by the Resistance, Spider toyed with the Force Metal he had taken. "What could it hurt?" he said to himself. "I'll install it, and if I don't like it, I'll get rid of it later." He then took action. He had worked with Force Metals before, so he knew how to install it. He opened a panel just above his waist and placed the Force Metal inside him. He knew that the metal would eventually assimilate with his system, but he also knew that, should he reject it at any point, it would reform and he could easily remove it.

He shut the panel and attempted to send signals to his new hardware. It failed to respond. He wondered what could have been wrong, but at that moment another Reploid hovered into his room. His name was Aile, and Spider had come to make his acquaintance rather well over the week or so he had been staying there while tracking Dr. Psyche.

"Spider, come quick! Somebody's here, and he's talking about helping us fight the Rebellion Army!" Aile, while not sounding urgent, certainly gave off the emotion of being so.

"Right, right. I'm comin'," Spider lazily replied. He tried one last time to get the new Force Metal to react, but still nothing happened. He got up from his bed and followed Aile out the door.

««§»»

"...and that is how I plan to protect you, the citizens of Giga City!"

Spider walked in on the end of a speech given by a large Reploid who was dressed in greenish-brown military gear with golden shoulder pads. The other Reploids who had gathered as an audience cheered wildly. Spider couldn't have cared less and wondered why Aile had brought him here. He asked one of the audience members what the man's plan was.

"He's going to send the legendary Maverick Hunters X and Zero to protect us from the Rebellion," the Reploid explained enthusiastically.

The bounty hunter had heard of their exploits. Even he was somewhat envious that he could not stick around to meet them; after all, he had to find Psyche again, wherever the doctor had gone.

But something inside him said that he could stay, and that the bounty was no longer important. He could bring X and Zero instead. If they were given to the right people, he would be paid enormously for his efforts. _"Yeah..."_ he agreed with whatever was causing him to do this. _"I could live like a king!"_ He gave no outward appearance of his thoughts, but vowed to listen to them, as he returned to his room.

««§»»

He decided for the final time to try to use the Force Metal. If it didn't work, he would remove it as soon as he could. He sent electrical impulses all around his system, trying to find the spot that would activate the addition. A queen of hearts flew into the wall in front of him as he activated his weapon circuitry by accident. He had been almost everywhere in his body and had come up with nothing; hope seemed lost.

Until he found the sweet spot. He became immediately surrounded by an orb of blue electricity and felt himself changing shape. His hair receded; his black hat turned into a brown military one; his shoulders and legs expanded; his card cannons slipped into his wrists. All these changes occurred nearly instantaneously, and when the light faded, he stood there and looked himself over.  
All shreds of his former self had disappeared. He now looked, right down to the face (he assumed), just like the official who had given the speech. Again the voice spoke to him. It said that he could use this power to get X and Zero. All he would have to do would be to incapacitate the original colonel and he would be perfectly set for all the money he could dream of.

After transforming back into his original form, he left his room and searched the halls for the room in which the army official was staying. Normally there would be armed guards surrounding the room, but in Central Tower, there was no danger of attack, so guards were unnecessary.

After what seemed like hours of searching, he came upon the correct room. He saw the colonel's back turned from the door and snuck in silently, being sure not to draw the attention of his victim. He raised his arms and sent a series of impulses down to his weapons. A volley of roughly twenty cards, ten from each hand, shot out and stuck in the colonel's back. The final two cards were aces of spades which, upon hitting, exploded, tearing the military official to shrapnel.

Before anybody could come to investigate, he transformed into the colonel and hid the remains of the original official. His plan was finally complete. "Nothing to it but to do it," Spider said in the gruff voice of the colonel.


End file.
